ORAL DRUGS AND SLO COUNTY KIDS

Local Teens Are Abusing Marijuana And Alcohol While Adults Ignore The Problem

If you think drug and alcohol abuse among local teens is going down, you're
wrong, according to Janice Fong Wolf.

Wolf is the administrative coordinator with Action for Healthy Communities,
a local collaborative comprised of non-profit, business and government
organizations that conducted a county-wide, drug-use survey last year.

San Luis Obispo County might be a small, peaceful, tightly knit community,
but Wolf and others warn that looks are deceiving that's why she's not
surprised by the discrepancy between the reality of SLO County's teen drug
use and our perception of it.

"Our substance abuse rates are higher than the national average because you
can't address a problem until you acknowledge it exists," she says.
"Generally the perception of SLO County is that it's a beautiful and safe
place to live, but that can be dangerous if it leads us to believe we don't
have to address substance abuse in our community."

But relaxed attitudes about alcohol and marijuana are becoming the norm not
just in SLO County, but all across America. Many health officials are
becoming increasingly concerned about the youthful drug use and the relaxed
attitudes of parents.

With 9/11 came an immediate and noticeable decline in drug and alcohol use
among teenagers nationwide, according to the Pride Survey, a semi-annual
study touted by the White House as measuring drug policy effectiveness. The
study, released in July, queried over 100,000 students in grades 6-12
nationwide and concluded that drug use was the lowest in the survey's
15-year history.

But another analysis by the California Healthy Kids Survey, a service of
the California Department of Education, reported slightly higher averages
of alcohol and marijuana for U.S. teens than the Pride Survey's national
average.

In the Healthy Kids survey, 48 percent of SLO County's 11th graders
admitted to drinking alcohol in the past 30 days, compared to the national
average of 31 percent. Twenty-six percent of SLO County's high school
juniors admitted being drunk or high on drugs on campus at least once, and
7 percent said they have used marijuana and then attended classes.

Local parents often underestimate the problem, according to the Healthy
Kids Survey of 2001. Only 28.7 percent of parents believe that drugs and
alcohol abuse problems at school are "very serious."

But since the figures in the Healthy Kids survey are from 1999, can we
really get an accurate picture of drug use in SLO County today? Fong Wolf
admits that it's hard to tell.

"We hope that the national trend is true for San Luis Obispo. However, when
we look at [our[ 1999 Healthy Kids] survey compared t our 2001 survey, we
don't see a drop. Locally, our situation is not improving," she says.

So why isn't there more current local data?

"The Pride Survey doesn't have local data," explains Fong Wolf, "so we do
our own report with the amount of resources that are available. We try to
be the most effective as possible with our limited resources, and gather as
much secondary data as possible."

Elisa Leigan, a prevention specialist at the county's Drug and Alcohol
Services and a former individual and group counselor, agrees that there is
an abuse problem.

Leigan often deals with parents that dismiss the use of alcohol and
marijuana as merely "child's play," not addressing the problem until it is
too late.

"It isn't just the family that's complacent. The community becomes
complacent. If we don't all take some responsibility for the youth, they
will fall through the cracks. Being a member of the community implies a
certain amount of responsibility."

She adds, "Some parents have let the school, TV, and other people raise
their children. But kids really need that connection, they need adults in
their lives who value them."

But amid al the numbers and criticism, we should remember that plenty of
kids don't use drugs and alcohol, which Leigan is quick to emphasize.

"The majority of kids are doing good things, and this generation of kids is
more involved in community service than any other generation, but they
don't usually make news."

There are numerous local organizations working to reduce teen drug use, and
to reduce the gap between teens' self-reported drug use and adults' perception.

One solution embraced locally is Friday Night Live, a prevention component
of Alcohol and Drug Services. The 11-year-old program has recently expanded
to provide programming for children as young as fourth grade. With school
personnel, program administrators provide teens an opportunity to engage in
drug and alcohol-free events like rafting, community service, and social
events, as well as education programming.

Kimberly Mott, a prevention specialist with Drug and Alcohol Services, says
that thousands of youth are involved year-round in the club, providing an
opportunity to garner positive peer support as well as developing a support
system outside the family.

But is that enough? Kids entering this program aren't likely to be the same
kids getting caught behind the baseball field smoking pot, nor are they the
teenagers who end up in Leigan's office.

A program for first-time offenders, funded through the SLO County Probation
Office, is called "Intense Community Diversion (ICD)." It allows offenders
to bypass the court system, in exchange for counseling for parents and
siblings. In this way both the adults and the children are being educated
and made aware of the dangers.

Nancy Lindholm, a supervising deputy probation officer with ICD, views drug
abuse among teens as a family problem, and often finds a pattern of abuse
beginning with the parents to be a core issue driving youngsters to use
drugs. That complacency often becomes denial, creating even more problems.

"We try to find where the pain is coming from and give the families the
tools to fix the problems themselves," says Lindholm.

In programs that center around educating families, the hope is that both
adults and children will be receptive to changes. SLO County's Drug and
Alcohol Services offers a Program for Youth and Family with counseling and
educational services family members over age 11.

Karen Rogers, a specialist and youth and family team leader for the
program, also views the situation as a family issue, not just an individual
problem.

"The teen is usually the one to bring attention to the family," she says.

Leigan says parents don't always realize how much times have changed.

"Today's marijuana is not your marijuana," she says. "It's 10 times more
potent than what people were smoking in the 60's and 70's."